Mauricio Avendano

Mauricio Avendano is Associate Professor at the University of Lausanne, within the Faculty of Biology and Medicine, and co-director of the Health Economics and Policy Unit at the Department of Epidemiology and Health Systems, Unisanté. He is also adjunct Associate Professor at Harvard University and visiting professor at King's College London, reflecting his strong international academic engagement.

His research focuses on the impact of public policies on health and inequalities, particularly in the domains of aging, mental health, and social determinants such as education, employment, retirement, and poverty. He employs econometric methods and natural experiments using large longitudinal datasets to evaluate how social and economic policies influence population health.

Mauricio Avendano has made significant contributions to social science research, evidenced by over 130 publications and funding from prestigious institutions including the European Research Council, National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, and the MacArthur Foundation. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health and a Consulting Editor of Social Science & Medicine.

He was elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy in 2024, a major recognition of his scholarly impact. He is also co-founder of the Lausanne Center for Health Economics, Behavior, and Policy (LCHE), promoting interdisciplinary research on health policy.

• Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), International Fellow (2024)

Throughout his career, he has held academic positions at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Harvard University, the London School of Economics, and King's College London, where he served as Head of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. He has led research on pension reforms, compulsory schooling, family policies, maternity leave, unemployment compensation, and anti-poverty programs across multiple countries.